(Yicai Global) Jan. 2 -- China's 2017 box office takings broke through CNY55 billion (USD8.4 billion), hitting a record high. The total number of movie screens also surpassed 50,000 last year. A Chinese film also boasted box office takings of CNY5 billion for the first time. It shows China leads the global box office expansion.

China's total box office raked in CNY55.91 billion last year, a 13.45 percent year-on-year increase, showed data released by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television yesterday. The box office takings of domestic films reached CNY30.1 billion, accounting for 53.84 percent of the total, the Beijing Daily reported.

In 2017, there were 92 movies, each taking in more than CNY100 million in China, including 15 movies that surpassed CNY1 billion box office takings, and three over CNY2 billion. War-themed movie 'Wolf Warrior 2' sat atop with a total box office revenue of CNY5.68 billion. This is the highest record for a single domestic movie in China.

China's cinema buffs regularly increased their box office visits, said a film market observer. Watching movies has increasingly become a cultural habit for many Chinese people, the observer pointed out, attributing rising box office takings to this phenomenon. There is also increasing capital injected into the movie sector, which guaranteed continued work creation.

The surge in China's box office revenues is down to the development of movie theaters, growing number of screens and the rising population in third- and fourth-tier cities, said Rao Shuguang, the chairman of China film critics association. China's movie screens increase at a rate of 26 per day, with the country's total number of screens ranking first in the world, Rao added.